Friday, November 14, 2014

Kinderstudio

Did you notice I fell off the NaBloPoMo wagon yesterday? Oops! But don't cry for me Argentina, because I had a fun, but busy day with the kids, then put away all screens and devices and spent the night talking to my husband without any distractions. It was good stuff, people. Then we watched three episodes of Modern Family and ate cookies.

However, as good as the real world is, I wanted to hurry back to the blog today to tell you about our adventures in art yesterday. Espen and Gwen were lucky enough to be invited to take part in a Kinderstudio class hosted by Krisanne, one of the brilliant brains behind The Making Table, a new resource for families seeking to incorporate "beauty, art, nature and mindfulness into their daily routines". Yes please!

Looking at leaves with Miss Krisanne.

I was confident that Espen was going to have a great time, because not only does he love getting his little art on, he has also attended classes taught by Krisanne before, and really enjoyed them. Gwen was much more of a wild card. She hasn't really been given as much of an opportunity to "do art" as Espen has, for the simple reason that it's hard to wrangle two budding artists and their materials without making a huge mess (and I do so hate a huge mess). And she has spent much less time in a class setting than Espen, so I really wasn't sure how much she would actually participate.

As it turns out, they both had a great time. They read a storybook with Miss Krisanne and the rest of the class, and talked about the colors of leaves, and then they danced like leaves in the wind. Dance parties have been a thing at our house lately, so both of the kids really got into that part. (You can catch a little video of Gwen dancing here.)

Dancing like leaves.

After that, the class talked a little bit about Jackson Pollock, and how he liked to dance as he painted. They looked at some of his works, and then Miss Krisanne announced that everyone was going to get to try drip painting like Jackson Pollock. Bear in mind that she teaches this class in her beautiful home, so this was a pretty brave move on her part!

Getting started.

We moved into the kitchen where she had an art station set up. Each child was given two leaves that had been spray painted gold, and then there were tubs of different colored paint for the kids to drip onto their leaves. Espen jumped in with both feet and his usual enthusiasm, and before too long, had moved from drip painting to full-on finger painting (which Krisanne assured us Jackson Pollock did from time to time as well). He was just so happy to be there and really getting stuck into his painting, that in the end it just didn't really matter that he was green up to his elbows and had to be carried to the sink to get clean(ish). I need to remember that sometimes the joy the kids find in an activity is worth the giant messes they create, and that most things come out in the wash anyway.

One of Espen's finished leaves.

Concentrating.

While I was hovering over Espen, trying to at least somewhat contain the globs of paint flying in all directions, Gwen was more or less left to her own devices. I was expecting her to be a hot mess by the time we had finished, but was absolutely astounded to discover that my wild and crazy little girl is a very thoughtful, methodical and deliberate little painter! Not a drop of paint landed on her leaf without Gwen specfically wanting it there. And she was so busy painting that it didn't even occur to her to smear paint everywhere. I felt like I was seeing a whole new side of my daughter, which definitely made me want to get out the art supplies a bit more often at home. Gwen is a very, very busy little girl who is constantly on the move, and I loved seeing her discover something that brought her a little stillness.

Gwen's leaves.

The whole thing lasted less than an hour, and soon we were on our way to grab lunch and get Espen off to preschool. But I am still thinking about the things we all learned and enjoyed, and planning ways to get a little more art and creating into our life at home.